Want to Quit Your Job but Don’t Know What to Do Instead?

Episode 267 | Watch on YouTube | Listen on Buzzsprout

You’ve built a career. People rely on you. You can solve their problems all day.

Then someone asks what you want to do next, and you don’t have an answer.

If you want to quit your job but don’t know what to do instead, start by choosing one kind of work to investigate. Identify what you want to change, notice work you enjoy, and talk with someone already doing it. You can take those steps while you’re still employed.

Here are three questions to help you begin.

1 What do you actually want to change

“I want out of corporate” describes your frustration. It doesn’t tell you what your next move needs to provide.

Are you tired of the work itself? The travel? Managing people? Being responsible for problems you don’t have the authority to fix?

Write one sentence:

“I want less of ______, more of ______, and I want to keep ______.”

For example:

“I want less travel, more evenings at home, and I want to keep solving technical problems.”

That gives you something concrete to look for. A role with less travel might fit. A consulting practice requiring constant travel probably wouldn’t.

Also notice the work you still enjoy. Teaching newer employees, troubleshooting, or helping customers may be buried inside a job that otherwise wears you down. You may want to carry that part forward.

2 What kind of work might you enjoy doing instead

Think about the last time you finished some work and thought, “I’d like to do more of that.”

What were you doing? Who were you helping? What made it satisfying?

Then look at what people already come to you for. A capability you take for granted may be useful to someone else.

In our homeschool math business, teaching is the capability and families working through high school math are the people we serve. That is much clearer than saying, “I like education.”

In software work for a medical company, understanding the customer and connecting that understanding to the technical work mattered. The capability extended beyond writing code.

Finish this sentence:

“I might enjoy helping ‘these people‘ with ‘this problem‘.”

You might enjoy helping new managers handle difficult conversations or helping small businesses clarify what they need before hiring a developer. Those are possibilities to investigate, not proof of paying demand.

You could do that work in another job, through a contract, by teaching, or through a business of your own. Choose one direction to explore before deciding the entire income model.

Keep your eventual income needs in view. Enjoying the work doesn’t establish that it will support your household.

3 Who can help you understand the real work

Find someone already doing the work and ask for a short conversation.

Ask what fills an ordinary day, what gets frustrating, how people get started, and how the work is paid for. If possible, observe some of it.

You can say: “I’m exploring whether I’d enjoy this kind of work. Could I ask you a few questions about what it’s really like before I make any decisions?”

Listen closely to the inconvenient parts. Would they be manageable for you? Does the work offer more of what you wanted in your first sentence?

Afterward, decide whether you want to learn more. You might observe the work, try a small project, or investigate training. You might also move on. Either way, you have information you didn’t have before.

Your next step this week

Write three lines:

Then send the message.

You started with “I want out, but I don’t know what I’d do.” Now you have one possibility and a way to learn more about it.

Watch this Company of One episode on Youtube.

Want help getting your interests and possibilities on paper?

Get my free Calling Exercise 👉🏻 My free calling exercise can help you explore what you love, what you have to offer, and where those things might lead. ⤵️

🌟 Download the free calling exercise at DaleCallahan.com/calling.

Choose one possibility and one step.

You got the salary. You got the title. Now build something that’s yours. That could be a company. It could be a path into work you’ve always wanted to do.

If this resonated, I share grounded insights like this each week in my LinkedIn newsletter

— focused on clarity, ownership, and taking control of your direction without hype.

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Reach out if you want help with your next move.

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🎥 See the video on my Youtube Channel.